Apparatus for direct-to-digital spatially-heterodyned holography

ABSTRACT

An apparatus operable to record a spatially low-frequency heterodyne hologram including spatially heterodyne fringes for Fourier analysis includes: a laser; a beamsplitter optically coupled to the laser; an object optically coupled to the beamsplitter: a focusing lens optically coupled to both the beamsplitter and the object; a digital recorder optically coupled to the focusing lens; and a computer that performs a Fourier transform, applies a digital filter, and performs an inverse Fourier transform. A reference beam and an object beam are focused by the focusing lens at a focal plane of the digital recorder to form a spatially low-frequency heterodyne hologram including spatially heterodyne fringes for Fourier analysis which is recorded by the digital recorder, and the computer transforms the recorded spatially low-frequency heterodyne hologram including spatially heterodyne fringes and shifts axes in Fourier space to sit on top of a heterodyne carrier frequency defined by an angle between the reference beam and the object beam and cuts off signals around an original origin before performing the inverse Fourier transform.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation-in-part under 35 U.S.C. § 120 ofcopending U.S. Ser. No. 08/873,252, filed Jun. 11, 1997, now pending,the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated herein by referenceas if fully set forth herein.

STATEMENT AS TO RIGHTS TO INVENTIONS MADE UNDER FEDERALLY-SPONSOREDRESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

This invention was made with Government support under contract No.DE-AC05-960R22464 awarded by the United States Department of Energy toLockheed Martin Energy Research Corporation, and the Government hascertain rights in this invention.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to the field of holography. Moreparticularly, the present invention relates to a direct-to-digitalhologram acquisition and replay system (i.e., no film, no plates). In apreferred implementation of the present invention, the hologramacquisition is based on a charge coupled device (CCD) camera. Thepresent invention thus relates to a holographic system.

2. Discussion of the Related Art

Traditional methods of holography have used film or holographic plates(ass plates with a photographic emulsion optimized for holography) torecord the hologram.⁽¹⁾ Replay has only been possible using lasers (orin some cases white light) and the original recorded hologram or aduplicate of it, in an analog method. These analog methods are slow,cumbersome, and expensive.⁽⁴⁾ There is also no way to reduce them toelectronic signals that can be transmitted and replayed at anotherlocation. It is always necessary to send hard copy. Worse still, thetime delay involved in processing the film prevents the use ofholography and its variants in many situations. Even if the expense ofthe classical holographic system itself was tolerable, the time delayand low throughput caused by the necessity of processing the film,introduces expenses associated with the delay that are absolutelyintolerable (e.g., a tire manufacturer cannot wait 45 minutes, or eventwo minutes, to know that a particular tire has a flaw in it).

Referring to FIG. 1, a classical side-band holography system recordationgeometry is shown.⁽²⁻³⁾ Light from a laser 110 is expended by a beamexpander 120. After passing through a lens 130, the light is split intotwo components by a beamsplitter 140. The beamsplitter 140 can be, forexample, 90% reflective. The reflected beam constituting an object beam150 travels toward and is reflected by a mirror 160. The object beam 150then travels toward an object 170. The object beam 150 is then incidentupon a holographic plate 190.

Meanwhile, that portion of the light from lens 130 that is transmittedthrough the beamsplitter 140 constitutes a reference beam 180 thattravels !toward and is reflected by a mirror 200. The reflectedreference beam is then incident upon the holographic plate 190.

More recently, holographic interferometry has been developed, albeitalso as an analog method.⁽⁵⁾ This has included the development offocused holography.⁽⁶⁻⁷⁾

Within this application several publications are referenced bysuperscripts composed of arabic numerals within parentheses. Fullcitations for these, and other, publications may be found at the end ofthe specification immediately preceding the claims. The disclosures ofall these publications in their entireties are hereby expresslyincorporated by reference into the present application for the purposesof indicating the background of the present invention and illustratingthe state of the art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, there is a particular need for a method for 1) recordingholograms directly to a CCD (charged coupled device) camera or any othersuitable video camera with a digital computer interface and then 2)storing the holograms to a digital storage medium (e.g., RAM, harddrive, tape, recordable CD, etc.). Significant features of an apparatusfor implementing this method include the use of a very small anglebetween the reference beam and object beam and focusing the hologram onthe image plane to simplify the image. Additionally, the inventionincludes 1) a method of displaying the hologram phase or amplitude on atwo-dimensional display and 2) a method of replaying the hologramscompletely using an optically active crystal and lasers. In contrast,the prior art does not include a description of how to electronically(digitally) record an optical hologram, much less replay, or broadcastan optical hologram.

The improvements disclosed herein allow for higher quality, lower-noisedigital hologram acquisition and replay. The improvements make use ofvariations in the geometry and optical components to allow theacquisition and analysis of high resolution holograms. In addition,improvements to the replay system have been made that allow writing of adigital grating (hologram) to a photorefractive crystal, and then thereplay of that grating or hologram with a single laser beam.

One embodiment of the invention is based on an apparatus to record anoff-axis hologram, comprising: a laser; an illumination beamsplitteroptically coupled to said laser, an objective lens optically coupled tosaid illumination beamsplitter, an object optically coupled to saidobjective lens; a reference beamsplitter coupled to said laser, areference mirror optically coupled to said reference beamsplitter, abeam combiner optically coupled to both said reference beamsplitter andsaid illumination beamsplitter, and a digital recorder optically coupledto said beam combiner, wherein a reference beam and an object beam arecombined at a focal plane of said digital recorder to form an off-axishologram, and said object beam and said reference beam constitute aplurality of substantially simultaneous reference and object waves.Another embodiment of the invention is based on a method of recording anoff-axis hologram, comprising: splitting a laser beam into an objectbeam and a reference beam; reflecting said reference beam from areference beam mirror, reflecting said object beam from an illuminationbeamsplitter; passing said object beam through an objective lens;reflecting said object beam from an object; focusing said reference beamand said object beam at a focal plane of a digital recorder to form anoff-axis hologram; digitally recording said off-axis hologram; andtransforming said off-axis hologram in accordance with a Fouriertransform to obtain a set of results.

Another embodiment of the invention is based on an apparatus to write anoff-axis hologram, comprising: a laser; a spatial light modulatoroptically coupled to said laser; a lens optically coupled to saidspatial light modulator, and a photorefractive crystal optically coupledto said lens, wherein a write beam is focused at a focal plane of saidphotorefractive crystal by said lens to impose a holographic diffractiongrating pattern on said photorefractive crystal. Another embodiment ofthe invention is based on a method of writing an off-axis hologram,comprising: passing a laser beam through a spatial light modulator, andfocusing said laser beam at a focal plane of a photorefractive crystalto impose a holographic diffraction grating pattern on saidphotorefractive crystal.

Another embodiment of the invention is based on an apparatus to replayan off-axis hologram, comprising: a laser; and a photorefractive crystaloptically coupled to said laser. Another embodiment of the inventionmethod of replaying an off-axis hologram, comprising: illuminating aphotorefractive crystal having a holographic diffraction grating with areplay beam.

These, and other, aspects of the present invention will be betterappreciated and understood when considered in conjunction with thefollowing description and the accompanying drawings. It should beunderstood, however, that the following description, while indicatingpreferred embodiments of the present invention and numerous specificdetails thereof, is given by way of illustration and not of limitation.Many changes and modifications may be made within the scope of thepresent invention without departing from the spirit thereof, and theinvention includes all such modifications.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A clear conception of the advantages and features constituting thepresent invention, and of the components and operation of model systemsprovided with the present invention, will become more readily apparentby referring to the exemplary, and therefore nonlimiting, embodimentsillustrated in the drawings accompanying and forming a part of thisspecification, wherein like reference numerals designate the sameelements in the several views. It should be noted that the featuresillustrated in the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale.

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic view of a classical (Leith & Upatnieks)sideband holography system appropriately labeled “PRIOR ART”;

FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic view of a simple direct-to-digitalholography system, representing an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 a illustrates a perspective view of a “Michelson” geometrydirect-to-digital holography setup, representing an embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 3 b illustrates another perspective view of the direct-to-digitalholography setup shown in FIG. 3A;

FIG. 4 illustrates a digitally acquired hologram of a scratch in amirror, representing an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 illustrates a plot of a 2-D Fourier transform of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 illustrates a replay of hologram phase data from the hologram ofFIG. 4;

FIG. 7 illustrates a schematic view of a holographic replay system,representing an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 illustrates a selected area of a hologram of gold particles on anamorphous carbon film, representing an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 9 illustrates a selected area of the modulus of the Fouriertransform of the hologram in FIG. 8 (center area: the autocorrelation;left and right area: the sidebands), representing an embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 10A illustrates a contrast transfer function at Scherzer focus;

FIG. 10B illustrates a holography special transfer function at Gaborfocus, representing an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11 illustrates a modulus of discrete Fourier transform ofcos-pattern sampled with 32 points at sampling rate s=4.66 (number ofdisplay points in discrete Fourier transform is 32), representing anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 12 illustrates a modulus of analytic Fourier transform ofcos-pattern according to Eq. (6) (cos-pattern is limited to same area(in real space) as data from FIG. 11 and none of the details in thisfigure can be found in FIG. 11), representing an embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 13 illustrates a modulus of extended Fourier transform ofcos-pattern (original set of display points was 32 as in FIG. 11;choosing parameter π to be 16, number of display points in extendedFourier transform is 512 and shows same-details as visible in analyticFourier transform), representing an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 14 illustrates the results of an extended Fourier algorithm whichallows display of conventional discrete Fourier transform but shifted byfraction of pixel (again, same cos-pattern as for FIG. 11 is used;choosing true values for Δk (and Δ1 in two dimensions), it is possibleto display at least one peak in Fourier space such that it fallsdirectly on display point; in this case, sidelobes disappear (see rightpeak)), representing an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 15 illustrates that reconstructing amplitude from a sideband thatis not truly centered causes artifacts in image (the worst situation iswhen center of the sideband falls exactly in between display points inFourier space), representing an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 16 illustrates a Mach-Zender layout schematic of a hologramacquisition system with through-the-lens illumination, representing anembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 17 illustrates a digital hologram acquisition system layout drawingillustrating an object beam reflecting off from the face of anillumiation beamsplitter and beam combiner, thereby eliminatingastigmatism, representing an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 18 illustrates a photograph of a digital hologram acquisitionsystem, representing an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 19 illustrates a schematic of a practical replay system,representing an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 20 illustrates a lithium niobate crystal and hologram write/replayoptics, representing an embodiment of the invention;

FIGS. 21A and 21B illustrate transmissive and reflective spatial lightmodulator optical geometries suitable for a holographic replay system,respectively, representing embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 22 illustrates an 800×600 computer driven spatial light modulatorfollowed by a polarizer as implemented in a hologram replay system,representing an embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 23 illustrates a photograph of a laser beam at a Fourier plane of atube lens showing spatial light modulator pixel edge diffracted orders(the center bright spot is the zero order diffracted image),representing an embodiment of the invention.

FIGS. 24A-24D illustrate polarizing beamsplitters combined with ¼ waveplates, representing embodiments of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention and the various features and advantageous detailsthereof are explained more fully with reference to the nonlimitingembodiments that are illustrated in the accompanying drawings anddetailed in the following description. Descriptions of well knowncomponents and processing techniques are omitted so as to notunnecessarily obscure the present invention in detail.

1. System Overview

The reason that digital holography has not been developed until now isthat the resolution of digital video cameras or cameras adaptable todigital media has, heretofore, not been good enough to record the veryhigh spatial frequencies inherent in classical holograms. The inventioncombines several techniques that overcome this difficulty, and allowrecording of holograms and all of their spatial frequencies up to theinherent holographic resolution of the recording camera for Fouriertransform hologram analysis.

It was necessary to realize how to digitally record an optical hologram(and that it is a hologram). It was also necessary to realize that theFourier transform techniques used in interferometry and electronholography could be used to analyze the hologram. It was also necessaryto realize that mathematical addition of a plane wave to the digitalhologram, and writing the resulting intensity function to an opticallysensitive crystal would allow actual replay of the hologram at adifferent (and much larger) diffraction angle c, than the angle used tocreate the original sideband hologram.

2. Detailed Description of Preferred Embodiments

Referring now to FIG. 2, a simple direct-to-digital holography system isshown to illustrate the hardware concepts that have been combined toallow digital recording and replay of holograms. Light from a laser 210is expanded by a beam expander/spatial filter 220. The expanded/filteredlight then travels through a lens 230. Then, the light travels to abeamsplitter 240. Beamsplitter 240 can be, for example, 50% reflective.Light that is reflected by the beamsplitter constitutes an object beam250 which travels toward and object 260. A portion of the lightreflected from the object 260 then passes through the beamsplitter 240and travels toward a focusing lens 270. This light then travels to acharged coupled device (CCD) camera (not shown).

Meanwhile, that portion of the light from lens 230 that passes throughbeamsplitter 240 constitutes a reference beam 280. The reference beam280 is reflected from a mirror 290 at a small angle. The reflectedreference beam from mirror 290 then travels toward the beamsplitter 240.That portion of the reflected reference beam that is reflected by thebeamsplitter 240 then travels toward the focusing lens 270. Thereference beam from focusing lens 270 then travels toward the CCDcamera. Together, the object beam from the focusing lens 270 and thereference beam from the focusing lens 270 constitute a plurality ofsimultaneous reference and object waves 300.

Comparing FIG. 2 to FIG. 1, it can be seen that at least the followingdifferences allow a CCD camera to record the hologram, rather than usingfilm or a photographic plate. 1) The invention uses a high resolutionCCD (e.g., 1.4 million pixels), (CCD's with over 60 million pixels arealready available). 2) The invention uses a “Mchelsonif geometry (thegeometrical relationship of the beamsplitter, reference beam and theobject beam to be combined at a very small angle (the reference beammirror, and CCD resembles a Michelson interferometer geometry). Thisgeometry allows the reference beam mirror to be tilted to create thesmall angle that makes the spatially heterodyne or sideband fringes forFourier analysis of the hologram. 3) The invention uses a focusing lensto focus the object onto the focal plane of the CCD. This lens alsoprovides magnification or demagnification, as desired, by using lensesof different focal length and adjusting the corresponding spatialgeometry (e.g., ratio of object distance to image distance). Theforegoing three factors allow direct to digital recording and replay ofholograms when combined with Fourier transform software analysis methodsknown in the literature.⁽¹⁰⁻¹²⁾

The system is suitable for recording and replaying holographic images inreal time or storing them for replay later. Since the holograms aredigitally stored, a series of holograms can be made to create aholographic motion picture or the holograms can be broadcastelectronically for replay at a remote site to provide holographictelevision (HoloVision). Since a hologram stores amplitude and phase,with phase being directly proportional to wavelength and optical pathlength, this direct to digital holography can also serve as an extremelyprecise measurement tool for verifying shapes and dimensions ofprecision components, assemblies, etc. Similarly, the ability to storethe holograms digitally immediately provides a method for digitalholographic interferometry. Holograms of the same object, after somephysical change (stress, temperature, micromachining, etc.), can besubtracted from one another (direct subtraction of phase) to calculate aphysical measurement of the change (phase change being directlyproportional to wavelength). Similarly one object can be compared to alike object to measure the deviations of the second object from thefirst or master object, by subtracting their respective holograms. Tounambiguously measure phase changes greater than 2π in the z-plane overtwo pixels in the x-y plane, holograms must be recorded at more than onewavelength (discussions of two-frequency interferometry are well-knownin the literature and will not be repeated here).

The invention combines the use of high resolution video cameras, verysmall angle mixing of the holographic object and reference waves (mixingat an angle that results in at least two pixels per fringe and at leasttwo fringes per spatial feature to be resolved), imaging of the objectat the recording (camera) plane, and Fourier transform analysis of thespatially low-frequency heterodyne (side-band) hologram to make itpossible to record holographic images (images with both the phase andamplitude recorded for every pixel). Additionally, an aperture stop canbe used in the back focal plane of one or more lenses involved infocusing the object, to prevent aliasing of any frequencies higher thancan be resolved by the imaging system (aliasing is thoroughly describedin the literature and placing aperture stops in the back focal plane ofa lens to limit the spatial frequencies present is also well describedand well understood). No aperture is necessary if all spatialfrequencies in the object are resolvable by the imaging system. Oncerecorded, it is possible to either replay the holographic images as 3-Dphase or amplitude plots on a two-dimensional display or to replay thecomplete original recorded wave using a phase change crystal and whitelight or laser light to replay the original image. The original image isreplayed by writing it in the phase-change medium with lasers, andeither white light or another laser is used to replay it. By recordingan image with three different colors of laser and combining the replayedimages, it is possible to make a true-color hologram. By continuouslywriting and relaying a series of images, it is possible to formholographic motion pictures. Since these images are digitally recorded,they can also be broadcast with radio frequency (RF) waves (e.g.,microwave) or over a digital network of fibers or cables using suitabledigital encoding technology, and replayed at a remote site. Thiseffectively allows holographic television and motion pictures or“HoloVision.”

With regard to the use of a lens to focus the object onto the focalplane of the CCD, the diffraction pattern of a point can be described bya spherical function which has increasingly close fringe as the distancefrom the center of the pattern increases. As these fringes get closerand closer together, they are unresolvable by a video camera Worse yet,the interaction of these point diffraction patterns from a complexobject creates an impossibly dense and complicated pattern, which cannotbe anywhere resolved by a video camera. Focusing the object on therecording plane eliminates these diffraction patterns, so that modernhigh-resolution video cameras can record holograms with reasonablefidelity.

If the recording media resolves 100 lines/mm, the holographic resolutionwill be approximately 16 lines/mm, or on the order of 50 microns, atunity magnification. This limit can be increased by the use of amagnification lens. For a camera resolution of 100 lines/mm, thehologram resolution will be approximately 160 lines/mm if amagnification of 10 is used. Similarly, the spatial resolution will bedecreased by any de-magnification of the original image onto therecording camera.

The invention can also be embodied in a number of alternativeapproaches. For instance, the invention can use phase shifting ratherthan heterodyne acquisition of the hologram phase and amplitude for eachpixel. Phase shifting interferometry is well documented in theliterature. As another example, the invention can use numerous differentmethods of writing the intensity pattern to an optically sensitivecrystal. These include using a sharply focused scanning laser beam(rather than using a spatial light modulator), writing with an spatiallight modulator (SLM) but without the biasing laser beam, and manypossible geometric variations of the writing scheme. As another example,the invention can use optically sensitive crystals employing opticaleffects other than phase change to create the diffraction grating toreplay the hologram As yet another example, the invention can actuallyuse a very fine-pixeled spatial light modulator to create the intensitypattern, thereby obviating any need to write the intensity pattern to anoptically active crystal for replaying the hologram.

EXAMPLE

A specific embodiment of the present invention will now be furtherdescribed by the following, nonlimiting example which will serve toillustrate in some detail various features of significance. The exampleis intended merely to facilitate an understanding of ways in which thepresent invention may be practiced and to further enable those of skillin the art to practice the present invention. Accordingly, the exampleshould not be construed as limiting the scope of the present invention.

FIG. 3A is a perspective view of ane exemplary “Michelson” geometry fordirect-to-digital holography is shown. Laser light is provided to abeamsplitter 310. An object beam from the beamsplitter 310 travels to asemiconductor wafer mount 320 and then to a focusing lens 330.Meanwhile, a reference beam from the beamsplitter 310 travels to areference beam mirror that is mounted on a piezoelectric reference beammirror mount 340.

FIG. 3B is another perspective view of the exemplary recording“Michelson” geometry is shown. In this view, the position of adirect-to-digital CCD camera 350 with regard to the other subcomponentsof the apparatus can be more readily appreciated. In this view, theposition of an object target mount 360 can also be more readilyappreciated.

FIG. 4 is a heterodyne (sideband) hologram of a scratch in a mirror (theobject in this case). The hologram was made with the direct to digitalholography system illustrated in FIGS. 3A-3B and described above. Thefringes observable in the hologram are due to the interference betweenthe reference and object beams. The reference beam mirror was tiltedslightly to create these fringes. It is the presence of these fringeswhich allows Fourier transform analysis of the hologram to calculate thephase and amplitude for the pixels of the hologram. The Fouriertransform analysis will be discussed in more detail below.

FIG. 5 is a graphical plot of the two-dimensional Fourier transform ofFIG. 4. The x axis is the spatial frequency axis along the x dimensionand the y axis is the spatial frequency axis along the y dimension. Theactual data itself is a matrix of numbers corresponding to the strengthof a particular spatial frequency in (f_(x), f_(y)) frequency space. Thenumber and brightness of the white dots shows the strength and positionin frequency space of the spatial frequencies present in FIG. 4. It canbe appreciated from FIG. 5 that the reference beam fringes act as aheterodyne local oscillator shifting the real and virtual hologramimages off-axis and allowing their separation in frequency space. It isknown from Shannon's Theorem (or Nyquist's limit) that at least twopixels per fringe are required to resolve a fringe, and from electronholography that at least 3 fringes per resolvable feature are requiredto resolve the object in the hologram (nominally it would require threeto four fringes per feature to allow resolution of the carrier spatialfrequency plus the object frequencies, but work on the extended Fouriertransform by Voelkl, et al.,⁽¹⁰⁻¹²⁾ allows the use of 2 fringes perfeature). Thus, these two units determine the required magnification ofan object and the tilt angle between the reference and object beams inorder to resolve a feature (spatial frequency) in a hologram.

The data shown in FIG. 5 is analyzed by transforming (shifting) the axesin Fourier space to sit on top of the heterodyne carrier frequency (thespatial frequency caused by the small angle tilt between the object andreference beams), then applying a digital filter (e.g., a Hanning orButterworth filter) to cut off the signals around the original origin(these are actually the signals resulting from the reference beaminteracting with itself and the object beam interacting with itself, andare just noise from the hologram point of view), and then performing theinverse Fourier transform. All of this analysis can be carried out on adigital computer and can be done in real time. Real time analysis mayrequire as many as 30 to 100 high performance parallel processors (e.g.,Pentium Pro or iDEC Alpha) to achieve a frame rate of 30 frames persecond. Computer systems of this size are presently commonly used aslarge database servers and stock market calculational engines. They arealso suitable for short-term low resolution weather forecasting, andimage manipulation and creation for the film industry. It can beexpected that such systems will be desktop systems within 6 to 10 years.

FIG. 6 shows a replay of the phase data created by performing thedescribed analysis on the data (hologram) from FIG. 5. Replaying thedata as an actual hologram will require the creation of a diffractiongrating in an optical crystal and illumination of the diffractiongrating with laser light (or appropriately treated white light) at thecorrect angle. The data to be actually written to the opticallysensitive crystal is calculated from the hologram data by adding afunction f(x,y,z^(o)) to each pixel h(x,y,z^(o)) of the hologram data,where both functions are complex and:f(x,y)=e ^(ikcos(α)r)and r is the square root of x²+y²+z² ⁰ .

The exponential function added above corresponds physically to adding aplane wave intersecting at angle a with the original object wave of thehologram. The function created by the sum is multiplied by its complexconjugate to form the absolute value intensity function, which iswritten to the light-sensitive crystal with the laser (it may also bepossible to write only the intensity cross-term of the reference beamwith the object, and drop the autocorrelation terms). The diffractiongrating thus created in the light sensitive crystal can then beilluminated with laser light at angle α to replay the original hologram.If a crystal is used which has a temporary phase change or refractiveindex change when written with laser light, then by continuously writingnew images from either instantaneously acquired or stored holograms, andilluminating each image with laser light from another laser (orappropriately treated white light) at the angle α, a 3-D motion pictureor 3-D television image can be created. This is just one possible-methodand not the only possible method for writing the holographic image to anoptically sensitive crystal arid then replaying it.

FIG. 7 depicts a method for generating a motion picture or televisionusing the invention. It can be appreciated that the hologram is writtento the phase change or other optically active crystal by intersectingtwo laser beams in a phase change crystal 710. Laser Beam 1 is passedthrough a spatial light modulator 720 to modulate the hologram intensitypattern into it, created mathematically from the original hologram asdescribed above. SLM 720 is controlled by a computer 740 via a data path750. A focusing lens 730 focuses this pattern in the phase changecrystal 710 at the intersection of Laser Beam 1 with Laser Beam 3, wherethe combined intensity of the two lasers is adequate to write thepattern to the crystal 710. After the pattern is written, Laser Beam 2,incident on the crystal 710 at angle a replays the original hologram.

Introduction to Lightwave Holography

In order that the hologram processing steps described herein can be moreeasily understood, it is useful briefly to review first the nature ofoff-axis holography. In an electron microscope, equipped with a highlycoherent electron source, e.g. one using a field-emission electron gun,the electron beam that is incident on the specimen is, ideally, a planewave. In practice, this can be achieved to a reasonable approximation ifthe illumination is spread over a large area. In this ideal case, theobject in the microscope modifies the incident plane wave exp (ik{rightarrow over (r)}) to the object wave o({right arrow over (r)}), which isdefined as:o({right arrow over (r)})=a({right arrow over (r)})·e^(iφ({right arrow over (r)})).  (1)Both a({right arrow over (r)}) and φ({right arrow over (r)}) are realfunctions and describe the object amplitude and the object phase,respectively. The vector {right arrow over (r)} is a vector in thespecimen plane, or the (x,y) plane. For reasons of simplicity,magnification factors and image rotations are ignored, so vectors in theimage plane and the object plane coincide.

When recording the off-axis hologram, the object is, ideally, positionedexclusively on one side of the biprism. The biprism then overlaps theimage wave (or object wave depending on the experimental set-up) withthe reference wave, i.e. the wave on the other side of the biprism(Lichte, 1986; Joy et al., 1993; Möllenstedt & Düker, 1956; Tonomura,1993). Ideally, the reference wave is a plane wave that does not gothrough any part of the specimen. This however, is not an exclusiverequirement and acceptable results may still be obtained if thereference wave goes through the specimen or is deformed by magnetic orelectric fields. In the image plane below the biprism we find the imageintensity I({right arrow over (r)}) (Völkl & Lichte, 1990):I({right arrow over (r)})=1+A ²({right arrow over (r)})+2·A({right arrowover (r)})·cos(Δ{right arrow over (k)}·{right arrow over (r)}+Φ({rightarrow over (r)}))  (2)where the additional term I^(incl)({right arrow over (r)}) takes theinelastically scattered photons into account. The term |Δ{right arrowover (k)}| describes the spatial frequency of the holographic fringes.A({right arrow over (r)}) and Φ({right arrow over (r)}) describe theimage amplitude and phase, which are different from the object amplitudeand phase due to the aberrations of the objective lens (and othersources of disturbances). The term μ describes the contrast of theinterference fringes if no object is used, i.e. A=1, and I^(incl) and Φare zero.

In FIG. 8, a small area selected from a hologram of gold particles on anamorphous carbon foil is displayed to show the interference fringes.They run from the top left to the bottom right corner of the image. Inorder to extract the information about the (complex) image wave, andfrom that the amplitude and phase, a Fourier transform (FT) of the imageintensity I({right arrow over (r)}) is performed and we obtainFT{I({right arrow over (r)})}=FT{1+I ^(incl) +A ²({right arrow over(r)})}+δ(Δ{right arrow over (k)}−{right arrow over (q)})*FT{A({rightarrow over (r)})·e ^(iΦ({right arrow over (r)}))}+δ(Δ{right arrow over(k)}+{right arrow over (q)})*FT{A({right arrow over (r)})·e^(−iΦ({right arrow over (r)}))  (3)where * denotes convolution.

The Fourier transform of the hologram of FIG. 8 is displayed in FIG. 9.The central area is known as the ‘autocorrelation’, which corresponds tothe Fourier transform of a conventional image. The interesting featuresin this image are the ‘sidebands’ that look like ears around theautocorrelation. A closer look shows that there is, for example, nocentrosymmetry with respect to the center of the sideband: oppositebeams do not have the same intensity; this is a mathematical necessity).

The last two lines of Eq. (3) correspond to the two sidebands in FIG. 9.By isolating one of the sidebands from the Fourier transform we retainthe Fourier transform of the complex image wave. Ignoring chromaticaberrations, the Fourier transform of the complex image wave correspondsto the Fourier transform of the complex object wave in the followingway:FT{A({right arrow over (r)})·e ^(iΦ({right arrow over (r)}))}=FT{A({right arrow over (r)})· e ^(−iφ({right arrow over (r)})}·) e^(iΩ({right arrow over (q)}))  (4)where the term Ω({right arrow over (q)}) describes the isoplanatic waveaberrations. Here, {right arrow over (q)} is a two-dimensional vector inthe Fourier space (or reciprocal space), i.e., the back focal plane ofthe objective lens. It is obvious from this equation that if Ω({rightarrow over (q)}) is known, this information can be used to cancel theinfluence of Ω({right arrow over (q)}), which results in an improvementin the point resolution (Tonomura et al., 1979; Fu et al., 1991). Thisis desirable, as the interpretation of high-resolution crystal structureimages then becomes more intuitive.

Besides the possible improvements of the point resolution of amicroscope, another important feature of lightwave holography is thedirect accessibility of the image phase. In contrast to the conventionalcontrast transfer function which is a sin-function (Reimer, 1989) anddisplaced in FIG. 10A, the trasfer function of the object phase into theimage phase is described by the cos-function. This transfer function isdisplayed in FIG. 10B. The advantage of the cos-type transfer functionis that the large area contrast (details of size >1 nm) is not decreasedand, apart from a slightly degraded point resolution, the total amountof information is higher in the image phase than in the image intensityat Gabor focus (Weierstall, 1989; Lichte, 1991). This is one of thereasons why a direct display of the image phase is preferable over theimage intensity in some cases.

The extended Fourier transform.

In order to evaluate holograms in a computer, discrete Fourier optics isconventionally used. Although the discrete Fourier trnsform of an imagecontains the same information as the original image, the conventionaldiscrete Fourier transform is not the ideal tool to perform this task.

To illustrate this, let us consider a discrete image of size N×N pixelswhich is readily obtained from a slow-scan CCD camera. Suppose the sizeof one pixel of the CCD camera has the dimension d×d, and the distancebetween neighboring pixels is also d. The image function I(x,y) isrecorded at each pixel, and has the value: $\begin{matrix}{{I_{mn} = {\frac{1}{d^{2}}{\int_{{({m - 1})}d}^{md}{\int_{{({n - 1})}d}^{nd}{{I\left( {x,y} \right)}{\mathbb{d}x}{\mathbb{d}y}}}}}},} & (5)\end{matrix}$with m, n=1, . . . , N. I_(m,n) is slightly different from the values ofthe function I(x,y) at the center of the pixel ((m− 1/2)d), (n, −1/2)d)) due to the integration over the area of the pixel. This effecttogether with others contributes to the MTF of the CCD camera. For thisdiscussion, we will assume that the MTF has been corrected for andtherefore I((m−½)d), (n, −½)d))=I_(n,m). We also assume, for the moment,that I(x,y) has the form:I(x,y)=cos[2π(xu+yv)]  (6)for 0≦x,y≦d, and is 0 elsewhere. The digitized image I_(m,n) is:I _(m,n)=cos{2π[(m−½)ud+(n−½)vd]}  (7)for 0≦m,n≦N, and is 0 elsewhere. We define the number of pixels neededto cover 2π in the direction perpendicular to the fringes defined in Eq.(7) as the sampling rate s for the spatial frequency √{square root over(u²+v²)}: $\begin{matrix}{s\text{:} = \frac{1}{d\sqrt{u^{2} + v^{2}}}} & (8)\end{matrix}$It is not required that this number of pixels be an integer. Thesampling theorem states that if the image function I(x,y) is sampledsuch that no spatial frequency of the image is sampled below the Nyquistlimit⁽¹²⁾, then the image function is uniquely defined within the areaof the CCD camera. In other words, if all the spatial frequencies of theimage function I(x,y) are sampled with s≧2, then the information I_(m,n)on I(x,y) within the area of the CCD camera is complete. Therefore, itshould be a question of display only, if I(x,y) is displayed with, forexample, 124×124 or 13789×13789 sampling points (i.e., display points),both in real space and in Fourier space. The discrete Fourier transformFT^(d) { . . . }is defined as: $\begin{matrix}{{{FT}^{d}(\quad\ldots\quad)} = {\frac{1}{N}{\sum\limits_{m,{n = 1}}^{N}{(\quad\ldots\quad){\mathbb{e}}^{{- 2}\pi\quad{{{\mathbb{i}}{({{{k\quad m} +} \in})}}/N}}}}}} & (9)\end{matrix}$where N/2≦k, 1≦N/2−1. FIG. 11 shows the modulus of the Fourier transformof Eq. (7) FT^(d){I_(m)} in one dimension and N=32. The motivation foran extended Fourier algorithm originally came from the surprisingdifference in the display between the modulus of FT^(d){I_(m)} and thedisplay of the modulus of the analytic Fourier transform of Eq. (6)FT^(a){I(x)}. The analytic Fourier transform Fra is defined as:$\begin{matrix}\begin{matrix}{{{FT}^{a}\left\{ \quad\ldots\quad \right\}} = {\int{\int_{- \infty}^{\infty}{\left\{ \quad\ldots\quad \right\}{\mathbb{e}}^{2\pi\quad{{\mathbb{i}}({{xu} + {yu}}\}}}{\mathbb{d}x}{\mathbb{d}y}}}}} \\{= {\int{\int_{0}^{Nd}{\left\{ \quad\ldots\quad \right\}{\mathbb{e}}^{2\pi\quad{{\mathbb{i}}({{xu} + {yu}}\}}}{\mathbb{d}x}{{\mathbb{d}y}.}}}}}\end{matrix} & (10)\end{matrix}$The modulus of FT^(a){I(x)} is displayed in FIG. 12. In comparing FIGS.11 and 12, it is clear that none of the details visible in FIG. 12 arefound in FIG. 11. Also, the FT^(a) extends to infinity in Fourier space,whereas the FT^(d) does not extend beyond the well known Nyquist limitat 1/(2d).

The (discrete) extended Fourier transform EFT is defined as follows:$\begin{matrix}{{{{EFT}\left\{ \quad\ldots\quad \right\}} = {\frac{1}{N}{\sum\limits_{m,{n = 1}}^{N}{\left\{ \quad\ldots\quad \right\} \times {\mathbb{e}}^{{- 2}{\pi\mathbb{i}}{{\{{{{({k + {\Delta\quad k}})}m} + {{({l + {\Delta\quad l}})}n}}\}}/{({N\quad\tau})}}}}}}},} & (11)\end{matrix}$with −1≦Δk, Δ1≦1; —Nτ/2≦k, 1≦1Nτ/2−1. The inverse extended Fouriertransform is defined as: $\begin{matrix}{{{{EFT}^{- 1}\left\{ \quad\ldots\quad \right\}} = {\frac{1}{N\quad\tau^{2}}{\sum\limits_{k,{l = {{- N}\quad{\tau/2}}}}^{{N\quad{\tau/2}} - 1}{\left\{ \quad\ldots\quad \right\} \times {\mathbb{e}}^{{- 2}{\pi\mathbb{i}}{{\{{{{({k + {\Delta\quad k}})}m} + {{({l + {\Delta\quad l}})}n}}\}}/{({N\quad\tau})}}}}}}},} & (12)\end{matrix}$The new variables Δk, lΔ and τ permit a change in the display in Fourierspace as well as the number of display points. Note that for Δk, Δl=0and τ=1, EFT=FT^(d).

The effect of τ

The effect of τ can be seen from FIG. 13. Using τ=16 and Δk, Δl=0, thereare now NΔ=512 points to display in Fourier space instead of N=32 pointsas in FIG. 11. Obviously, the details visible in the analytic Fouriertransform (FIG. 12) appear in the discrete EFT too. But again, both theEFT (for τ≧1) and the F contain the same information. There are stilltwo differences in the display of the modulus of the analytic and themodulus of the extended Fourier transform. First the Nyquist limit stillholds for the extended Fourier transform and no spatial frequencies showup beyond the Nyquist limit. Second, the limited image area causeshigher frequencies in Fourier space, which are reflected back at theNyquist limit and cause differences such as the disappearance of thevery fine details visible in the FT^(a).

The effect of Δk

The effect of Δk in EFT{I_(m)} is displayed in FIG. 14 for the specialcase Δk=0.133 and τ=1. In comparison to FIG. 1, the right of the twopeaks now coincides exactly with a pixel (or display point) in Fourierspace. This causes the sidelobes, as visible in FIG. 11, to disappear.

This shifting of the display points in Fourier space is very importantfbr off-axis lightwave holography, especially for the reconstruction ofthe image amplitude (under most circumstances, the wedge in thereconstructed phase, caused by the center of the sideband being off adisplay point, can be compensated easily). The effect of the center ofthe sideband being off a display point is to cause noise in thereconstructed amplitude.

We can demonstrate the effect of the center of the sideband beingactually off center of a display point in Fourier space on thereconstruction. To do this, we generate an empty hologram in thecomputer (image size 512×512) such that the sideband falls exactly onthe display point (k,l) in Fourier space. In this case, thereconstructed amplitude is flat and shows a mean standard deviation ofeffectively 0%. A slight change in the generation, i.e. decreasing thesampling rate s, causes the center of the sideband to fall between thedisplay points (k,l) and (k+1, l+1). Again, the mean standard deviationis computed, and we continue to decrease the sampling rate until thecenter of the sideband falls on the display point (k+1, l+1). The resultof this simulation is displayed in FIG. 15. In the worst case, when thecenter of the sideband is found at (k+½, +½), the mean standarddeviation in the reconstructed amplitude reaches 10%.

Based on the above observations, the following reconstruction procedurecan be advantageous:

(1) Select area hologram that does not show object contributions (ifpossible).

(2) Apply Hanning window to this area (or all of hologram).

(3) Perform FT^(d) and extract information about exact position ofsideband. This defines Δk and Δl for the extended Fourier algorithm.

(4) Apply EFT using the information on Δk and Δl. Use τ=1.

(5) Isolate sideband, which is now perfectly centered.

(6) Perform inverse FT^(d).

(7) Extract amplitude and phase.

Example. Apply Hanning window and perform FT^(d). Position of sidebandis, lets say, (134.62, 172.31), using W. J. de Ruigter et al. in Proc.10^(th) Pfefferkorn Conf Scanning Microsc. Suppl. 6 (1992) 347;

=Δk=0.62 and Δl=0.31. Use these data together with τ=1 and perform EFTof hologram The sideband is now centered on a display point andartifacts are reduced in the reconstructed amplitude.

Digital Hologram Acquisition System Improvements Through the LensIllumination and Mach-Zender Geometry

The invention can include through the lens illumination of the targetobject, thereby allowing the objective to be close to the object. Theinvention can include Mach-Zender geometry which allows a large range ofadjustability of carrier frequency fringes in comparison with Michelsongeometry while maintaining object and reference beam overlap.

Referring to FIG. 16, a laser 1605 is optically coupled to a variableattenuator 1610, which is optically coupled to a variable beamsplitter1615. A spatial filter with beam expander assembly 1625 is opticallycoupled to the variable beamsplitter 1615. An illumination beamsplitter1630 is optically coupled to the assembly 1625. An objective lens 1635is optically coupled to the beamsplitter 1630. An object 1640 ofinterest is near lens 1635. A beam combiner 1650 is coupled to thebeamsplitter 1630 via a tube lens 1645. A CCD camera 1655 is opticallycoupled to the beam combiner 1650. Reference beamsplitter 1665 isoptically coupled to beamsplitter 1615 via another spatial filter withbeam expander assembly 1660. A reference mirror 1675 is opticallycoupled to the beamsplitter 1665 via a reference objective lens 1680.The beam combiner 1650 is optically coupled to the beamsplitter 1665 viaanother tube lens 1670.

Still referring to FIG. 16, an object beam 1620 from the variablebeamsplitter 1615 passes through the assembly 1625, is reflected byillumination beamsplitter 1630 and then passes through an objectobjective lens 1635. The object beam 1620 then interacts with an object1640 of interest, passes back through lens 1635 and then passes throughthe illumination beamsplitter 1630 toward the beam combiner 1650 via thetube lens 1645. A reference beam 1685 passes through the assembly 1660,is reflected by the reference beamsplitter 1665 and then passes throughthe reference objective 1660. The reference beam 1685 then reflects fromthe reference mirror 1675, passes back through lens 1680 and then passesthrough the reference beamsplitter 1665 toward the beam combiner 1650via the tube lens 1670. The combined beams travel from beam combiner1650 to the CCD camera 1655 where digital data is collected. Of course,the digital data can be recorded, transmitted and/or transformed.

FIG. 16 shows a schematic of a Mach-Zender geometry. Comparing theMach-Zender geometry of FIG. 16 (called Mach-Zender because of itssimilarity to the geometry of a Mach-Zender interferometer) with theMichelson geometry, it can be appreciated that the focusing lens(objective lens 1635 in FIG. 16) can be much closer to the object 1640because through-the-lens illumination allows the beamsplitter 1630 usedfor illumination to be behind the objective lens 1635 rather thanbetween the objective lens 1635 and the object 1640. This allows largenumerical aperture, high magnification objectives to be used to look at(and record holograms of) small objects. For large objects the originalMichelson geometry may be preferable, depending on the situation.

It can also be appreciated from FIG. 16 that the final beam-combiner1650 is located just before the CCD camera 1655. The final beam combiner1650 combines the reference and object beams 1685, 1620 to illuminatethe digital CCD camera 1655. The angle of the beam combiner may bevaried so that the reference and object beams are exactly co-linear, orin general strike the charged coupled device camera at an angle to oneanother so that the heterodyne carrier fringes are produced. This allowsthe carrier fringe frequency to be varied from 0 to the Nyquist limit ofthe CCD camera. The final beam combiner 1650 is much closer to thedigital camera 1655 than with the Michelson geometry, at least formagnifying geometries (geometries where the object hologram is beingmagnified for acquisition by the digital camera). This allows thecombining angle between the object and reference beams to be relativelylarge without causing the spots from the reference and object beams tono longer overlap at the CCD camera. This allows much finer control overthe carrier frequency fringes. It is possible to vary the angle betweenthe two beams from zero up to the maximum angle allowed by theconstraints of the system without the spatial carrier frequency of theheterodyne hologram exceeding the Nyquist frequency allowed by the CCD(i.e., the angle can be increased until there are only two CCD pixelsper fringe of the spatial carrier frequency—beyond this angle thespatial carrier frequency is no longer correctly recorded by the CCD)).With the Michelson geometry, the maximum spatial carrier frequency ofthe hologram may not be reachable because the angle required may belarge enough that the reference and object beams would no longer overlapat the CCD camera for some geometries.

Front Face Illumination of Beamsplitter/Beam-Combiner for Object BeamEliminates Astigmatism

The invention can include front face reflection from beamsplitters forthe object beam, thereby helping to prevent astigmatism in the image. Alimitation with the layout of FIG. 16 is that the object beam passesthrough the illumination beamsplitter material as it travels to the CCDcamera Modifying the illumination geometry so that the laser beam passesthrough the beamsplitter only for illumination, but the beam returningfrom the object is reflected from the front face of the beamsplitter caneliminate this. This geometry prevents astigmatism in the imageassociated with passing through the beamsplitter, and simplifies lensdesign for the system, which would otherwise have to account for thebeamsplitter material. FIG. 17 illustrates such a geometry, with 50×objectives installed (the system is also used in this configuration withNikon 10× and Nikon 10× objectives).

Referring to FIG. 17, a PCX lens 1710 is optically coupled to abeamsplitter 1720. A target 1730 is optically coupled to thebeamsplitter 1720 via lens 1635. It can be appreciated that the objectbeam from the target 1730 reflects from the front face 1725 of thebeamsplitter 1720 and travels to a beam combiner 1730 via tube lens1735. It can also be appreciated that the reference beam from thereference mirror 1675 reflects from the front face of a referencebeamsplitter 1740. In this example, the combined beams travel to anApogee KX-14 camera with a Kodak KAF-1400 sensor.

Quarter-wave Plate and Polarizer Beam Isolation Suppresses UnwantedReflections

The invention can include the use of quarter-wave plate and polarizerbeam isolation to suppress unwanted reflections. Experiments have shownthat spurious reflections from the lens surfaces of the objective (orany other source) can be suppressed by more than an order of magnitudewith a quarter-wave plate isolator design. To use this technique, theillumination beamsplitter is replaced with a polarizing beamsplitter,which passes p-polarization and reflects s-polarization and aquarter-wave plate is placed between the objective and the object. Thequarter-wave plate is adjusted so that the incoming p-polarization isconverted to circular polarization when it strikes the object. Thereturn from the object passes through the quarter-wave plate once moreand is converted to s-polarization. The s-polarization is now reflectedfrom the polarizing beamsplitter and passes down the optical path to theCCD camera. Spurious reflections from the objective are now suppressedbecause they are still p-polarization and are not reflected by thepolarizing beamsplitter. Alternative versions of this could involve justplacing a polarizer in front of the tube lens and not having apolarizing beamsplitter at all. Also, the polarizing beamsplitter couldpass s-polarization and reflect p-polarization. To prevent astigmatismdue to the quarter-wave plate, the objective must be custom designed forthe materials, position, and thickness of the quarter-wave plate.Otherwise the quarter-wave plate will cause some astigmatism or otheraberrations in the object image. This technique has been tested on thesystem at ORNL with the quarter-wave plate and polarizer in front of thetube lens configuration, and found to suppress the unwanted objectivelens reflections and other noise by more than an order of magnitude.

Referring to FIG. 24A, a p-pass ¼ waveplate 2410 is optically coupled toa polarizing beamsplitter 2420. Referring to FIG. 24B, an s-pass ¼waveplate 2430 is optically coupled to the polarizing beamsplitter 2420.Referring to FIG. 24C, a p-pass ¼ waveplate 2410 is optically coupled tothe front face of the polarizing beamsplitter 2420. Referring to FIG.24B, the s-pass ¼ waveplate 2430 is optically coupled to the front faceof the polarizing beamsplitter 2420.

Identical Object and Reference Beam Paths

The invention can include the use of identical object and reference beampaths to the maximum extent possible, thereby keeping the carrier fringefrequency constant and allowing Fourier Transform analysis. A varyingcarrier fringe frequency creates artifacts in the replay.

It can be appreciated from FIG. 16 that the object and reference beampaths in this design are essentially identical. The point of this is tomake the object and reference beam wave fronts as nearly identical atthe digital camera (CCD sensor) as possible. The semi-identicalwavefronts will interfere and produce linear carrier fringes with aconstant spatial frequency. As discussed in the original inventiondisclosure, Fourier Transform analysis is used to eliminate theholographic spatial carrier frequency, and a digital filter is appliedto leave only the object beam phase and amplitude after the inverse FFT.If the holographic carrier frequency is not constant, then thistechnique does not work because spurious artifacts are created in theinverse transform by the presence of the additional frequency componentsof the carrier frequency. Semi-identical object and reference beam pathsresults in a very constant spatial carrier frequency for the heterodynehologram. An alternative method would be to exactly calculate the objectbeam wavefront characteristics at the digital camera and use simpleroptics designed to reproduce the wavefront in the reference beam. FIG.18 shows a photograph of the prototype system in the holography lab atORNL, with semi-identical object and reference beam paths implemented.

Replace Mechanical Attenuator and Infinitely Variable RatioBeamsplitters with Acousto-Optic Modulators

The invention can include replacing mechanical attenuator and infinitelyvariable ratio beamsplitters with acousto-optic modulators. Forhigh-speed operation, and to avoid the wear and tear associated withmechanical shutters (at the digital camera for instance), the mechanicalattenuator and variable ratio beamsplitter shown in FIG. 16 can both bereplaced with acousto-optic modulators. A single acoustoptic modulatorcould be used to replace the attenuator, and an acousto-optic modulatorin each of the reference and object 11 beam paths could be used toadjust the power in that particular path and act as a high-speedshutter. Acousto-optic modulators are usually driven with radiofrequency (RF) electromagnetic waves and have an on/off time typicallyon the order of one microsecond. This is particularly useful forsituations where images are being continuously acquired at multipleframes per second (e.g., holovision), where mechanical components cannotadjust rapidly enough and are subject to failure because of the numberof cycles of operation achieved daily.

Use Fiber Optics to Couple the Laser to the Matching Lenses for Each Leg

The invention can use fiber optics to couple the laser to the matchinglenses for each leg (object beam, replay beam) of the acquisitionsystem. For example, the spatial filters could be replaced withsingle-mode polarization preserving fibers. A fiber optic 2435 is shownin FIG. 24B. The use of fiber optics allows the laser system and acoustooptic modulators and other beam conditioning components to be far fromthe acquisition system if desired, and eliminates time-consuming andfinicky alignment of the micron size pinholes of the spatial filter. Thesingle-mode optical fibers rapidly attenuate any laser light not in theallowed mode, thereby “cleaning up” the beam profile.

It can be appreciated from FIG. 16 that if mirrors and lenses are usedto couple the laser to the object and reference legs of the “holocamera”that it would be inconvenient to have the laser located far from thecamera system. Remote location would require unobstructed beam pathsthat might have to be enclosed for reasons of safety or to keep debrisand artifacts out of the path and off of the optics. On the other handif single-mode polarization-preserving optical fibers are used to couplethe laser to the matching lenses for each leg, remote location of thelaser is quite convenient, and the single-mode fibers also suppress allmodes except the allowed propagation mode, so that the two spatialfilters in FIG. 16 can both be eliminated. Remote location of the laserand acousto-optic modulators or mechanical attenuator and beamsplittercan have considerable advantages in many situations. Lasers can often bebulky and have considerable environmental requirements (cooling,electrical power, . . . ) so that remote location with a flexibleconnection allows the holocamera head to be light and mobile forapplications where weight is important or where mobility is important.

Digital Hologram Replay System Improvements Practical System Layout

The invention can include Fourier lens filtering the SLM output toremove grating effects due to SLM pixel edges. FIG. 19 shows onepractical implementation schematic of the replay system described in theoriginal invention disclosure. A laser 1900 is optically coupled to avariable beamsplitter 1910 via a variable attenuator 1905. A write beam1950 passes from the variable beamsplitter 1910 through a shutter 1955,to a mirror 1960, through a spatial filter 1965, and through acollimating lens 1970 to a spatial light modulator 1975. From thespatial light modulator 1975, the write beam 1950 passes through alinear polarizer 1977, through a tube lens 1980, through an aperture1985, and through an objective lens 1990 to the beam combiner 11945, andthen to a focal plane of a photorefractive crystal 1995. A replay beam1915 passes from the variable beamsplitter 1910 through a ½ waveplate1920, through a shuttter 1925, through a spatial-filter 1930, andthrough a collimating lens 1935 to a mirror 1940, to a beam combiner1945 (e.g., beamsplitter), and then to a focal plane of aphotorefractive crystal 1995. A set of viewing optics 1999 are opticallycoupled to the crystal 1995.

Still referring to FIG. 19, after being filtered and collimated toappropriate size, the write beam 1950 passes through the SLM 1975(spatial light modulator) where it is digitally modulated (e.g., by anSLM driven by a computer) to impose the desired holographic diffractiongrating pattern The tube lens 1980 and objective 1990 then focus theholographic grating down to the appropriate size in thephotorefractive-crystal 1995 (lithium niobate in this case, althoughbarium titanate and other photorefractive crystals are available). Thedemagnification is such that the holographic diffraction grating in thecrystal 1995 will separate the zero order beam used for replay and thereplayed hologram. The entire replay beam train is superfluous to thewriting process. Once the holographic grating is written to thephotorefractive crystal 1995 it can be replayed by closing the writebeam shutter 1955 and opening the replay beam shutter 1925 so that theholographic grating written to the photorefractive crystal isilluminated by the replay beam 1915 at the correct angle to replay thehologram Alternatively the hologram can be replayed by turning off thedigital modulation to the SLM 1975 so that the write beam is now anunmodulated approximately plane wave illuminating the hologrampreviously written into the photorefractive crystal 1995. In thisconfiguration the replayed hologram emerges from the crystal 1995 at theangle that the replay beam would have struck it to replay it in thewrite beam original direction. This is represented in FIG. 19 by thedownward pointing arrow in the low right-hand corner of the drawing. Inthis case both the entire replay beam optics and the beamsplitterbetween the objective lens and the photorefractive crystal becomesextraneous and unnecessary. Thus, the holographic greeting written inthe photorefractive crystal 1995 can be replayed with the replay beam,or alternatively, replayed by the write beam alone with the spatiallight modulator turned off, thereby obviating the need for any replaybeam or associated apparatus. For reasons of display timing oneconfiguration or the other may be more desirable.

FIG. 20 is a photograph of prototype replay system optics that wasimplemented in the holography lab at ORNL. There are several varietiesof suitable readily commercially available SLM's, both reflective LCD(liquid crystal display), transmissive LCD, and micro-mirrors (e.g.,Texas Instruments DLP—digital light processor—implementation). Typicallythe LCD SLM's require a polarizer.

FIGS. 21A and 21B show two SLM geometries suitable for implementation ina holographic replay system. Note that a micro-mirror implementationwould not require a polarizer and would not rotate the polarization asthe LCD implementations depicted do. FIG. 22 shows a photograph of the800 pixels by 600 pixels transmissive SLM employed for the holographicreplay write beam set-up shown schematically in FIG. 19.

Eliminating the SLM Pixel Edge Diffraction Grating

The invention can include writing the hologram diffraction grating tophotorefractive crystal and replaying with the same beam by turning theSLM (spatial light modulator) signal on to write and off to replay. Withno signal to the SLM, the write beam becomes a plane wave suitable forreplay and no separate replay beam is required.

Because the SLM pixels have finite edges (as opposed to infinitelythin), the edges form a fairly strong diffraction grating. If theseedges/diffraction grating are not eliminated from the image, then theyform artifacts at a higher frequency in the hologram grating written tothe photorefractive crystal. These artifacts are undesirable since theyproduce confusing diffracted orders of light and interact with thedesired hologram grating to be written to the photorefractive crystal.

Referring again to FIG. 19, these pixel edges/diffraction grating can beeliminated by placing the aperture 1985 at the Fourier plane of the tubelens, which occurs between the tube lens and the focusing objective. Theaperture is sized to pass only the zero diffracted order, whicheliminates the pixel edges but does not eliminate the image written tothe SLM, because the pixel edges are the highest frequency associatedwith the SLM (the pixels themselves can at most display a frequency halfthe pixel edge frequency, by Nyquist's Limit). The Fourier plane iseasily found by turning the SIM off and observing where the diffractedorders caused by the pixel edges come to focused spots. FIG. 23 shows aphotograph of the laser beam after passing through the SLM and tube lensand focusing at the tube lens Fourier plane.

Replace Attenuator, Shutters, and Spatial Filters with Acousto-OpticModulators and Single-Mode Polarization Preserving Fibers

The invention can include replacing a mechanical beam attenuator with anacousto-optic modulator for speed and convenience. More specifically,mechanical shutters can be replaced with acousto-optic modulators forspeed and convenience.

As discussed above in connection with the hologram acquisition system,and for the same reasons, the attenuator, and variable beamsplittershown in FIG. 19 can be replaced with acousto-optic modulators (AOM's).Similarly the laser and AOM's can be remotely situated from the hologramreplay head (“Holovision” head) by connecting them to the replay opticswith single-mode polarization preserving optical fibers. Once more thisserves the purpose of eliminating mass and environmental effects (heat,vibration, . . . ) due to the laser and AOM's from the holovision headand makes it lightweight and mobile. The fibers also serve the purposeonce more of eliminating the spatial filters shown in FIG. 19.

Many similar geometries are possible. Angles can be modified; referenceand object beam geometries can be modified. Write and replay beamgeometries can be modified. Specific components can be replaced withother kinds of components. Laser wavelengths used for recording andreplay can be different. The system could also be implemented withcoherent x-radiation, UV, DUV, VUV, or infrared coherent radiation. Thereplay system could be modified to use white light to replay after thephotorefractive crystal is written. A phase shifting rather thanamplitude modulating SLM could be used for the replay system.Ferroelectric SLM's could be used and micro mirrors (e.g., TexasInstruments DLP system) could also be used in place of an SLM.

Practical Applications of the Invention

A practical application of the present invention which has value withinthe technological arts is holographic interferometry for computerassisted measurements. Further, the present invention is useful inconjunction with Holographic Television or Motion Pictures(“HoloVision”) such as are used for the purpose of entertainment, or forthe purpose of training, or the like. Nanovisualization and measurementin three dimensions for light wave holographic microscopy and electronholographic microscopy are expected to be major scientific applications.There are virtually innumerable uses for the present invention, all ofwhich need not be detailed here.

The invention is useful for ultra-precision metrology. The invention isuseful for 3D display and examination of technical materials andscientific data sets. The invention is useful for 3D visual news,communications, conferencing, movies, games, advertising andentertainment purposes.

ADVANTAGES OF THE INVENTION

A direct-to-digital hologram system, representing an embodiment of theinvention is cost effective and advantageous for at least the followingreasons. The combination of high resolution CCD, and optical techniquesthat reduce the density of the interference pattern (fringes) to adensity that the CCD can record, combined with the Fourier transformtechniques developed for interferometry and by Dr. Voelkl for electronholography, allow the electronic recording and replay of holograms.

All the disclosed embodiments of the invention described herein can berealized and practiced without undue experimentation. Although the bestmode contemplated by the inventors of carrying out the present inventionis disclosed above, practice of the present invention is not limitedthereto. It will be manifest that various additions, modifications andrearrangements of the features of the present invention may be madewithout deviating from the spirit and scope of the underlying inventiveconcept. Accordingly, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the artthat the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specificallydescribed herein.

For example, the individual components need not be formed in thedisclosed shapes, or assembled in the disclosed configuration, but couldbe provided in virtually any shape, and assembled in virtually anyconfiguration. Further, the individual components need not be fabricatedfrom the disclosed materials, but could be fabricated from virtually anysuitable materials. Further, although the recordation equipmentdescribed herein is a physically separate module, it will be manifestthat the recordation equipment may be integrated into the apparatus withwhich it is associated. Furthermore, all the disclosed elements andfeatures of each disclosed embodiment can be combined with, orsubstituted for, the disclosed elements and features of every otherdisclosed embodiment except where such elements or features are mutuallyexclusive.

It is intended that the appended claims cover all such additions,modifications and rearrangements. Expedient embodiments of the presentinvention are differentiated by the appended subclaims.

REFERENCES

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1-52. (canceled)
 53. An apparatus operable to record a spatiallylow-frequency heterodyne hologram including spatially heterodyne fringesfor Fourier analysis, the apparatus comprising: a laser; a beamsplitteroptically coupled to the laser; an object optically coupled to thebeamsplitter; a focusing lens optically coupled to both the beamsplitterand the object; a digital recorder optically coupled to the focusinglens; and a computer that performs a Fourier transform, applies adigital filter, and performs an inverse Fourier transform, wherein areference beam and an object beam are focused by the focusing lens at afocal plane of the digital recorder to form a spatially low-frequencyheterodyne hologram including spatially heterodyne fringes for Fourieranalysis which is recorded by the digital recorder, and the computertransforms the recorded spatially low-frequency heterodyne hologramincluding spatially heterodyne fringes and shifts axes in Fourier spaceto sit on top of a heterodyne carrier frequency defined by an anglebetween the reference beam and the object beam and cuts off signalsaround an original origin before performing the inverse Fouriertransform.
 54. The apparatus of claim 53, further comprising a referencebeam mirror optically coupled between the beamsplitter and the focusinglens.
 55. The apparatus of claim 54, wherein the beamsplitter, thereference beam mirror and the digital recorder define a Michelsongeometry.
 56. The apparatus of any claim 53, comprising a digitalstorage medium coupled to the digital recorder.
 57. The apparatus ofclaim 53, wherein the digital recorder includes a CCD camera.
 58. Theapparatus of claim 53, further comprising a beam expander/spatial filteroptically coupled between the laser and the beamsplitter.
 59. Theapparatus of claim 53, wherein an angle between the reference beam andthe object beam, and a magnification provided by the focusing lens, areselected in order that the digital recorder may resolve features of thespatially low-frequency heterodyne hologram.
 60. The apparatus of claim59, wherein in order that the digital recorder may resolve a feature, atleast two fringes, each having at least two pixels per fringe, areprovided.